OTTUMWA, IOWA -- Iowa Governor Terry Branstad is starting quite a controversy with his proposed tax bill that would reduce the commercial property tax. The bill, HF691, would put more burden on Iowan cities and counties that are already burdened financially due to the struggling economy.
Ottumwa City Administrator Joe Helfenberger told KTVO today that the city has already made some serious cuts, and that this bill, if passed, would hurt Ottumwa, not help it.
“The city is committed to financial responsibility. We have already made some serious cuts that won’t drastically impact the city’s provisional services to people,” said Helfenberger.
Some examples of what the city has done to cut spending include the following…
- Holding back on filling three firefighter positions
- Combining a full-time HR manager and a part-time city attorney into one position
- Eliminating the cemetery supervisor position
- Eliminating a deputy fire chief position
- Consolidating the risk manager position into existing finance staff
- Replacing two main fire trucks with cost effective mini-pumpers
- Reducing full-time beach positions to part-time positions
- Cutting over 1 million dollars from each of the last two proposed city budgets before recommending approval
The city is supporting SF522. The bill was passed in the senate recently with bipartisan support. That bill does not hold local government accountable while helping bring down taxes on commercial property.
Helfenberger is urging the community to contact their legislators and urge them to not support this bill.
The city released this statement Tuesday afternoon…
“Cities have and want to continue to incentivize and support local businesses; however, HF691 purports to help commercial and industrial property tax payers at the expense of local governments and residential property tax payers, which the City of Ottumwa cannot support.”
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